The Ref Stop

Open Age First game this weekend

It's deciding what is a genuine advantage and what is not. It's not quite as simple as it seems. :) are the players capable of taking advantage of the referees decision to allow advantage? If not, give them the free kick - Just having possession is not enough. Think about the area of the pitch, opponents near the situation, position of team mates, the ability of the player who would be taking the advantage. It's a tricky one at first, but with practice it becomes second nature (sometimes!)

I remember thinking that keeping the game flowing as hugely important. Now I know that doing that can encourage little kicks and trips, possibly leading to retaliation. Can also lead to bad feeling and dissent from all the players who think the ref is soft.

I would recommend a book called the art of refereeing which has a great section on advantage (although there are bits of it which are a bit debatable!). It's cheap on amazon and worth a read.

It took me a season to discover I was using advantage wrongly and a further season to start applying it consistently well (lol well sometimes!).
 
The Ref Stop
This season I applied advantage very well a player had kicked a player in ankle now there was nothing stopping him having a shot and he put it away beautifully
 
Update time! My second game on Saturday went well - I did listen to the advatage podcast and felt that I applied it well in general.

The level of football I'm refereeing tends to develop into an end to end contest without much midfield play, so the incidence of advantage is quite high in the final third - the ball will quite often break to an attacking player who finds himself in on goal or outnumbering the defenders.

A couple of situations for you guys to comment on:

1. Goal awarded despite player in offside position
This was disputed by the home team and I clarified my position at half time. The away midfielder (8) played a ball in behind the defence. A striker (9) who was clearly in an offside positio had been looking towards the ball, but his advance in the ball's direction was halted by a loud and clear call from from 8 who ran on to his own pass, advanced on the keeper and scored.

Because there was no defender in the vicinity I felt that 9 was not interfering with play - his actions didn't distract anyone or cause his team to gain any advantage, and he didn't play the ball. No defender could have caught up with the play. Was I correct?

2. Yellow card for foul resulting in a penalty
I've been wrestling with this decision because it could arguably have been red. The home player-manager (13) had just come on as a substitute. His first action was to clumsily foul the away winger (7) who was through on goal. This action occurred inside the box, and I awarded a penalty. Other than 13 protesting his innocence, there were no complaints about the decision from either team.

I didn't send him off because 7 had knocked the ball round him before being fouled, and I wasn't 100% convinced that he would have reached the ball in a goal scoring position. He was in the left third of the 18 yard box, outside the line of the goal. I felt he probably would have had to cross rather than shooting. For this reason I gave only a yellow card, however I will admit that the circumstances (he was player/manager, had only just entered the field of play, his team were already 4-2 down in the 86th minute) played a part in my decision. Certainly if it was a clearer goal scoring opportunity I would have been disappointed to have to issue a red card.

I would appreciate feedback on this :)
 
My two penneth worth...

1. Spot on, end of story. As you describe it you made an excellent call. IS IT NOT AN OFFENCE to be in an offside position, only if you meet the criteria outlined in the LOTG. The fact that the players play to all manner of versions of offside, most of them complete nonsense, is not your concern. Well done.

2. These are always quite tricky. My considerations are;
(i) the position of the foul. You say winger leading me to think a wide position, this is important. A player in a central area is more likely to have an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Also consider distance from the goal, but as in penalty area, he was plenty close enough to perhaps shoot and score
(ii) the position of the ball. Would the fouled winger have got to the ball with sufficient time to shoot, or would the keeper have got the next touch for example. From your description, he would have been in a wide position.
(iii) the severity of the challenge. You say clumsily, so no chance of a red on this score.

Overall, from your description, I think either just a penalty (you dont HAVE to issue any card at all) or a penalty and a caution were fine.

The other factors; the score, the fact he was manager, the fact he had only just come on, shouldnt have any part in the process; but you already know that!!!
 
Thanks for the comments. You're right, I could have issued no card (i didn't caution the offender for a later penalty at the other end) but the tackle was late and he took the player out completely, so I felt it was deserved! Although the the game was pretty even-tempered I would have looked very weak had I not shown a yellow card, especially as I had previously cautioned the fouled player. :)
 
should also mention, during my check of the pitch before the game I noticed that both penalty spots were missing. i requested that the home team mark them on, which they did.

in the closing stages of the game i awarded a penalty at each end, so i'm glad i was diligent in my pre match routine!
 
saw something in another thread relating to pre match routine and thought i'd put some comments in here.

i've been turning up for games 1 hour before kick off, and find that this is usually too early. these are basically parks games, so there is no pre-match cup of tea or anything to enjoy, and no ARs. a 15 minute pitch check/warm up is all that is really required and the low level of the game means it's counter-productive to be overly formal. i wear smart trousers and a polo shirt rather than a suit.

saturday i turned up 45 minutes before, closely followed by the away side. the home side weren't even there!
 
I rocked up for my game 45 minutes before kick off to find the changing rooms weren't open. The away team arrived shortly afterwards, changing rooms were opened up, but the home team could only name 5 players. Home by 2.45 to watch soccer saturday!
 
Richthekeeper said:
saw something in another thread relating to pre match routine and thought i'd put some comments in here.

i've been turning up for games 1 hour before kick off, and find that this is usually too early. these are basically parks games, so there is no pre-match cup of tea or anything to enjoy, and no ARs. a 15 minute pitch check/warm up is all that is really required and the low level of the game means it's counter-productive to be overly formal. i wear smart trousers and a polo shirt rather than a suit.

saturday i turned up 45 minutes before, closely followed by the away side. the home side weren't even there!
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Rich. I've got to admit that I used to turn up an hour before but, like you, often found I was the first there. I now turn up about 45 minutes early and that gives me enough time to walk the pitch, meet the coaches, get changed, check equipment and warm up. I still find myself wandering around for a bit before the kick off mind, but I wouldn't want to chance it and only have half an hour.
 
one thing i was pleased with on saturday - my positioning from a corner enabled me to be in exactly the right place to give a goal that the keeper dropped into his own net before scooping back out. the players could see that i was in the right position and there were no protests really.

when the game becomes scrappy late on and tired players resort to whacking it forward from defence, it's really difficult to judge offside calls.
 
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